Name As the word for "rain" is different in many languages, he is known by a variety of names. In Europe and the US, he is known by the English word Rain. In Korea he is known as ?, romanized as Bi and pronounced as the letter B in English. In Japan, he is known as ?, pronounced pi.[4][5][6] In parts of China, he is sometimes referred to as Yu or ?. [edit] Biography [edit] Early life Rain became interested in R&B and Hiphop dancing when he was in 6th grade. As a teenager, he was a member of a boy band called Fanclub. The group was short-lived, and soon disbanded. At that time Rain was having the hardest time of his life. His mother was sick, he had no money, he had a little sister to take care of and had to go to school. Yet he still pressed forward, always dancing and dreaming of becoming a singer. Rain then began auditioning for various talent agencies. In a CNN interview, however, he recalled being repeatedly rejected because of his looks: "In fact, I was told after one audition that my singing and dancing was great but I didn't make it because I didn't have double eyelids."[7] Finally, Rain entered an audition for Korean talent agency JYP Entertainment. Park Jin Young, the CEO of the agency, took a personal interest in Rain and accepted him as a trainee. During the early years of training, Rain was a backup dancer.[8] Finally, in 2002 he debuted with the album Bad Guy where he was introduced to the media through his stage or commercial name, Rain. The album's title single Bad Guy was a big hit. After his first album, he took time off from his career as a singer to star in the drama series, Sang Doo! Let's Go To School. Following the success of his debut as singer and actor, Rain released his second album How to Avoid The Sun, and had another hit with the title song "Ways to Avoid the Sun." In 2004, he starred in another successful drama called "Full House", which was one of the highest-rated Korean dramas of all time with ratings of over 30% for every episode.[8] It was broadcasted in many other countries including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. Through Full House, Rain was recognized across Asia. His performance in the drama also won him the Best Actor Award at the KBS Acting Awards. [edit] International recognition His third album It's Raining sold over 1 million copies in Asia. According to a report by Rain's previous agency JYP Ent. to the Korea Culture & Content Agency, It's Raining topped the charts in all of the following countries as of December 29th, 2005: Japan (100,000 copies), China (500,000 copies), Taiwan (70,000 copies), Thailand (150,000 copies), Indonesia (50,000 copies), and South Korea (154,000 copies), for a combined total of 1,074,000 units sold, making it Rain's most successful album to date both domestically and internationally.[9] His first concert, Rainy Day, held in Korea and Japan, was sold out the first day tickets became available. In 2004, Rain earned greater recognition by winning the MTV Asia Grand Slam, securing top honors in all the Asian countries which broadcast MTV Asia. Rain won the Favorite Korean Artist at the 2005 MTV Asia Aid held in Bangkok, the Most Popular Asian Artist Award from Channel [V] Thailand, the Best Buzz Asia Award during the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2005 (He won Best buzz ASIA as well as the Orange Range and Stefanie Sun.) and the Best Korean Singer award in the MTV-CCTV Mandarin Music Honors in Beijing. Rain was also the first Asian performing artist ever[citation needed] to be invited to the 2005 American MTV Video Music Awards in Miami, as well as the 2005 MTV Latin Video Music Awards in Mexico. These accomplishments earned Rain a lot of media attention, including interviews with Time Asian Edition and CNN Talk Asia. Rain also won the Best Korean Singer Award 2005 at the Mandarin Music Honors in Taiwan. Rain then went on his RAINY DAY 2005 Tour, starting in Seo